Talking machine



E. A. ESCHINGER;

TALKING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILED ocns. 1919.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1- FIG. I-

E. A. ESCHINGER.

TALKING MACHINE.

' APPLICATION FILED OCT. 3. 19m.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

2 SHEETSSHEET 2.

FIGJY FIGJIL UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

EDWARD A. ESCHIN GER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA, ASSIGNOR OF ONE- HALF TO JOEL G. CLEMMER, OF PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

TALKING MACHINE.

'10 all 207mm it may concern:

Be it known that I, EDWARD A. ESCHINGER. a citizen of the United States, residing at Philadelphia, in the county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Talking Machines, whereof the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to feed mechanism for sound boxes of sound recording and reproducing machines adjustable to automatically repeat their cooperation with a given sound record, at the will of the'operator.

As hereinafter described, my invention is specifically adapted for such machines arranged to cooperate with flat disk records and having sound conducting tubular arms which move with the sound boxes, and are so constructed and arranged that repetition of the cooperation of the sound box with any given record is consequent upon such movement, to an adjustably predetermined extent.

I find it convenient to illustrate and describe my invention herein with reference to a gramophone of the type known as a Columbia Grafonola. However, it is to be understood that I do not desire to limit myself to such a specific embodiment of my invention, which includes the various novel features of construction and arrangement hereinafter more definitely specified.

The embodiment of my invention chosen for illustration herein, includes means to variably predetermine the initial and terminal positions of the sound box with reference to given sound records, in combination with a single rotary cam constructed and arranged to automatically lift the sound box from cooperative relation with the record when it reaches a variably predetermined terminal position, and to then return the sound box to its initial position and again lower it into cooperative relation with the record; said cam having the capacity to shift said sound box throughout the maxi mum range of its movement by frictional engagement with a cam plate carried with a sound box; but its effective capacity is adjustably variable in accordance with variationsin the extent of different sound records.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Feb. 7, 1922.

Application filed October 3, 1919. Serial No. 328,196.

the specific claims are limited to construction and arrangement differing from the disclosures herein. Moreover, certain feetures of construction and arrangement of the specific form of feed mechanism herein disclosed are covered by claims in Letters Patent of the United States No; 1,301,786 granted to me April 22, 1919. However, it may be observed that the embodiment of my invention herein shown differs from those shown in said Letters Patent in'that whereas, in said Letters Patent, the rotary cam aforesaid is mounted upon the same shaft which also carries clutch mechanism adapted to automatically render. said cam alternately operative and inoperative, in the present embodiment of my invention, said cam is mounted upon a countershaft remote from the shaft carrying such clutch mecha nism,'and, whereas, in the form of my invention shownin said Letters Patent, the clutch mechanism is mounted upon the upper side of the top of the casing of the talking machine and thus exposed to be tampered with, in my present invention the shaft carryin the clutch mechanism is mounted beneath said casing top and thus secluded from tampering.

Of course, the aforesaid different arrangement of my present invention imposes various differences in specific construction thereof as compared with the mechanism shown in said Letters Patent. However, aside from such differences; my invention includes the a various novel features of construction and arrangement hereinafter more Y definitely specified; for instance, in the present embodiment, the'adjustable element of the stop device which variably predetermines the initial position of the sound box,includes a band encircling and frictionally engaging a vertically extending-portion of the tubular tone arm at its junction with the small end of the amplifying horn which is station-v ary in the machine casing aforesaid; which band carries an arm extending radially with respect to the axis of rotation of said tone arm, in position to encounter an abutment upon said casing top.

In said drawings; Fig. I is a plan view of the Columbia Grafonola aforesaid, minus the lid which is connected with the casing b the hinges shown at the upper edge of said gure.

Fig. II is a vertical section view of the machine shown in Fig. I, taken on the offset line II, II, in Fig. I.

Fig. III is a plan view of the feed mecha nism shown in Figs. I and II, but on a larger scale.

Fig. IV is an inverted plan view of said {tie-id mechanism, on the same scale as Fig.

Fig. V is a fra mentary, vertical crosssectional View of said feed mechanism, showing the inner face of said cam and parts connected therewith.

Fig. VI is a vertical longitudinal sectional view of said feed mechanism taken on the line VI, VI in Figs. III and IV.

Fig. VII is a fragmentary vertical sectional view showing the feed mechanism terminal stop device, taken on the line VII in Fig. I.

As shown in Figs. I and II; the casin 1 incloses a gramophonc having the recor turn table 2 arranged to be turned by the motor 3 which is mounted upon the underside of the casing top 4 which is detachably rigidly secured in said casing 1, conveniently by the hinge plates 5 and screws 6.

The sound box 8 includes a vibratory diaphragm', and carries the stylus 9 arranged to traverse a groove in the record 10 on said turn table 2 and automatically shift said box toward the axis of said table. Said sound box 8 is attached to the tubular goose neck 12 mounted to turn upon the horizontal axis 13 (indicated in Fi II) in the tubular tone arm 14, which .t us carries said sound box 8. Said tone arm 14 is mounted to swing, in a horizontal plane, upon its vertical axis 16 (indicated in Fig. II) in the tubular bearing 17 at the small end of the amplifying born 18 which is stationar in said casing 1, as indicated in Figs. I an II.

Said goose neck has, rigidly connected therewith, the hanger 20 (best shown in Fig. II) carrying, in rigid relation with said goose neck 12, the arcual cam plate 21, which is a sector of an annulus, in substantially concentric relation with said vertical axis 16, .upon whichsaid tone arm 14 turns, so that said plate 21 is continuously presented in registry with the cam 23 whereby said sound box and stylus 9 may be raised from and returned to cooperative relation with said record 10.

Said cam 23 is normally stationary and with the portion of its surface of shortest radius presented beneath said cam plate 21,

as indicated in Fig. V, so that said plate is permitted to slide freely thereover, during th normal playing operation of the ma- 30 which, as indicated in Figs IV, has a series of holes 31 through which chine. However, when said cam 23 is turned in the direction of the arrow indicated in Fig. V, it has the capacity to shift said it may be rigidly secured upon the ca-sin top 4 by the screws 32, indicated in Fig. Said gear 26 meshes with the intermediate gear 33, which is mounted to turn on the stationary stud shaft 34 in said standard 28 and, 'as said gears necessarily have a certain amount of backlash to permit their free operaton; there would be a slight idle rotary movement and corresponding jolt imparted to the sound box as the highest point of said cam passes away from contact with said plate 21, if means were not provided to control such idle movement. Therefore, I find it convenient to provide said cam 23 with a friction brake including the arcual plate spring 36 which is carried by said stationary stud shaft 27 in the recess 37 in said cam 23 and abuts against said cam and the head 38 of said stud shaft 27, as best shown in dotted lines in Fig. III.

Said gear 33 is in mesh with, and arranged to be driven by, the gear 40 which is rigidly mounted on the shaft 41. Said shaft 41 is mounted to axially reciprocate in the stationary frame 43 which is rigidly, connected with said frame plate 30, as, shown in Fig. VI. Said shaft 41 also has rigidly connected therewith the gear 45 whereby said shaft 41 and said cam 23 are turned, when said gear 45 is engaged with the driving gear 47 upon the vertical driving shaft 48, which, as shown in Figs. II and VI, is journaled at its upper end in said frame plate 30 and at its lower end in the bracket 50 which is rigidly connected with the frame of said motor 3. As shown in Fig. II; said vertical shaft 48 carries, near its lower end, the gear 52 engaging the gear 53 on the shaft 54 carrying the gear 55 engaging the gear 56 on the shaft 57 which carries the gear 58 engaging with the gear 59 on the main arbor 60 of said motor 3; so that said motor, which rotates the turn table 2, is thus arranged to also operate my improved feed mechanism.

Said gear 45, of the feed mechanism, is automatically shifted both to and from engroove 69 in the sleeve 7 O which is rigidly.

secured to said shaft 41 by the pin 72. Said slide bar 64 registers with the crown cam 74 carried by said gear 45 on said shaft 41; so

that rotation of said gear 45 in the direction of the arrow marked thereon in Fig. VI, thrusts said slide bar 64 into the position indicated in Figs. IV and VI, in which said spring 62 is stretched, and, by its tension, shifts said rigidly connected gear 40, shaft 41 and gear 45, to the idle position shown in Figs. IV and VI, in whici said gear 45 is disengaged from said gear 47 so that the latter may be continually turned by said motor 3, without operating, said box feed mechanism. Said slide bar 64 is detained in that position by the detent lever 76 which, as best shown in'Fig. IV, is fulcrumed at 77 on said frame 43 and has its hooked end engaging said tappet 63, under pressure of the spring 79, which, as shown in Fig. III,'is secured at one end to the p1ate30, by the screw 80, and has its opposite end pressing upon the arm of said lever 76 which extends upwardly through the slot 81 in said frame plate 30. In such idle position of the feed mechanism, the stud 83,.on said frame 43, extends in the notch 84 in said sleeve 70, as shown in Fig. VI; thus insuring that said cam 23 shall be presented in the rotary position shown in Fig. V, when the gear 45 is disengaged from the gear 47 by the action of said spring 62, and further insuring that said cam shall not be accidentally turned while said gears are thus disengaged.

Said clutch gear 45 is shifted, in both directions, solely by tension of said spring 62, which, in both instances, effects a change in the angular relation of saidlever 65 with reference to the plane which is common to the axes of said shaft 41 and said slide bar 64. That is to say; when said spring 62 has its end which is attached to the tappet 63 held stationary, as in Fig. IV, by engagement of said tappet with said detent; said spring tends to increase the angle between the right hand edge of said lever 65, (as shown in Fig. IV) and said plane, thus tending to shift said shaft 41 and its appurtenances away from said driving gear 47. However, when that end of said spring 62 is free to move, by release of said detent 76, from said tappet 63; said spring tends to decrease the angle aforesaid, by

drawing said tappet 63 and said lever 65 closer together and,'because said lever 65 is anchored to said frame 43 at its fulcrum 66, the tension of said spring 62 then effects movement of said shaft 41 and its gear 45 toward said gear 47, to engage said ears.

It may be observed that when sai crown cam 74 has been turned to the idle position of the gear shifting mechanism shown in Figs. IV and VI; it has passed the adjacent end of said slide bar 64 and released the latter, so that said spring 62 is then free to contract and shift said gear 45 into engagement with said gear 47 when said tappet 63 is released by said detent lever 76. Such release is conveniently effected by a sto member carried by said tone arm 14 in suc 1 position as to encounter and trip the upturned end of the detent lever 76 which shows in full lines in Fig. III and in dotted lines in Fi I. I prefer to provide stop devices whidli are manually adjustable, to predetermine both the initial and terminal positions of said sound box 8, not only because there is considerable variation in the radial position of the initial and terminal portions of sound record groovesin records of the same nominal size, and corresponding adjustment of stop devices is necessary if lost motion and undesirable sounds are to be avoided, but to enable the operator to precisely limit the portion of any record which shall be replayed by the automatic operation-9fv feed mechanism above described. Therefore, I find it convenient to render the terminal stop device adjustable by including therein the gear rack 86 shown in Figs. I and VII,

which is mounted for horizontal reciprocatory adjustment in the slide bearing 87, on the dial plate 88 which is conveniently rigidly connected with said ca-m late 21 by the screws 89 shown in Fig. I. aid adjustable stop member 86 is engaged by the gear 90 which is rotatable by themilled knob 91 carrying the index pointer" 92 'which traverses the graduations 93 on said dial plate 88; and accidental displacement thereof is prevented by the spring 95 carried b the shaft 96 of said gear 90 and frictional y engaging the back of said slide bearing 87, as shown in Fig. VII.

The initial stop device, which enables the operator to precisely determine the point at which replaying shall be initiated with respect to said record 10, conveniently includes the clamp band 100, shown in Figs. I and II, which encircles said tone arm 14 and carries the initial stop arm ;.1.01 extending radially with respect to the vertical axis 16 of rotation of said tone arm. Said bandlOO is rigidly. connected to said arm 101 b the screws 10, indicated in Figs. I and I and is thus clamped upon said tone arm 14 with such a degree of friction as to prevent it from turning on said arm when said initial stop arm encounters the stationary stop abutment 104, shown in Figs. I and I which is conveniently ri idly mounted in the top of said casing 1. owever, said band 100 may be readily turned on said tone arm 14 by the operator to present said stop arm 101 1n any desired position of angular adjustment with reference to said stop abutment 104 and said sound box 8, to precisely predetermine the precise position to which said stylus 9 shall be restored by the operation of the feed mechanism. In Fig. I, the circles 106 and 107 which are in concentric relation to the axis of rotation of said turn table 2 respectively indicate the initial and terminal positions: of the stylus 9 to which the stop devices aforesaid are adjusted.

Said form of my invention operates as follows:

Any desired sound record, such as 10, being placed on said turn table 2; the tone arm 14 is turned, conveniently by the goose neck 12, until said stylus 9 registers with the initial convolution of the sound record groove indicated at 106 in Fig. I. Thereupon, said initial stop arm 101 is adjusted to contact with said stationary stop abutment 104 to thus insure that when the sound box. 8 is returned, it will be stopped in the correct initial position with respect to that record. Said sound box is then shifted toward the axis of the turn table 2 until the stylus 9 registers with the terminal convolu tion 107 of the sound groove in said record, and the terminal stop member 86 is then adjusted, by rotation of said milled knob 91, until the detent lever 7 6 is released from the tappet 63. Thereupon, said sound box 8 is automatically restored to the aforesaid initial position, by the operation of the feed mechanism above contemplated. That is to say; when said detent lever 76 is thus released, said spring 62 contracts and shifts the shaft 41" until the gear 45 thereon engages the driving gear 47 as shown in Fig. II, thus withdrawing said sleeve 70 from its engagement withthe stationary stud 83 shown in Fig. VI, and permitting said shaft 41 and the cam 23 to be rotated by said motor 3. Said cam 23 is thus turned in the direction of the arrow shown in Fig. V, thus raising said arcual late 21, which is rigidly connected with said oose neck 12, and ac cordingly lifting s'ai sound box 8 and the stylus 9 from cooperative relation with said I record. The continued turning movement of said cam 23, in frictional engagement with said arcual plate 21, turns said goose neck. 12, and the tone arm: 14, outward until said stop arm 101 encounters said stop abutment 104. Further turning movement of said' cam 23 merely permits said arcual' plate 21, and the goose arm connected therewith, to be lowered by the weight of the sound box 8 until said Stylus 9 assumes its initial position in cooperative relation with the record. During the last quarterrevolutlon of said cam 23, the crown cam 74 thrusts the slide bar 64, to the right in Fig. VI, to

restore said spring 62 to its stretched position shown in Figs. IV and VI, but said spring is not effective to release said clutch gear 45 from its driving gear 47 until the notch 84 in the sleeve is presented'in registry with the stud 83 on the frame 43, as

v I- do not desire to limit myself to the pre:

cise details of construction and arrangement of my invention herein set forth, as it is obvious that various modifications may be made therein without departing from the essential features of my invention, as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a sound reproducing machine; the

combination with a casing; of a sound box movable to cooperate with a sound record above said casing top; means arranged to raise said box from operative position and lower it to operative position, including a cam revoluble above said casing top and driving mechanism for said cam within said casing below said top, including a driving gear connected with a motor and a driven gear connectedwith said cam and means arranged to automatically alternately connect and disconnect said driving and driven gears, and thereby render said'cam alternately operative and inoperative, including a clutch device, within said casing, having a member projecting through said casing top.-

2. In a sound reproducing machine; the

combination with a casing; of a sound box movable to cooperate with a sound record.

exterior to said casing; means arranged to raise said box from operation position and lower it to operative position, including a rotary cam exterior to said casing; and means arranged to automatically render said cam alternately operativeand inoperav tive, including a clutch device concealed within said casing, having a member projecting' exterior tosaid casing.

3. In a stylus restoring mechanism, the combination with a casing of a motor below the top of said casing; a cam revoluble on a horizontal axis, above the top of said casing; a gear carried with saidcam; an intermediate gear, extending through said casing top; driving mechanismv for said cam, including a shaft extending below said casing top, carrying a gear engaging said intermediate gear; and a driving gear connected with said motor.

4. In a stylus restoring mechanism, the combination with a casing; of a motor below the top of said casing; a cam revoluble above the top of said casing; a gear carried with said cam; an intermediate gear, extending through said casing top; driving mechanism for said cam including a shaft extending below said casing top, carrying a gear engaging said intermediate gear; and a driving gear connected with said motor.

5. In a stylus restoring mechanism; the combination with a motor board; of a cam mounted to rotate above said motor board; driving mechanism for saidcam, including a clutch device, below said motor boa-rd; means extending through said motor board, cooperatively connecting said driving mechanism with said cam.

6. In a stylus restoring mechanism, the combination with a motor board; of a cam mounted to rotate above said motor board;

driving mechanism for said cam, below said motor board; and means extending through said motor board, cooperatively connecting said driving mechanism with said cam.

7. An article of manufacture, stylus restoring mechanism attachment; including a frame plate having means to detachably secure it upon a motor board; a cam mounted to rotate above said frame plate, in a bearing carried by said plate; driving mechanism for,

said cam, including a clutch device, below said frame plate, and carried thereby; means carried by and extending through said frame plate, cooperatively connecting said driving mechanism with said cam; and means carried by said frame plate, arranged to operate said clutch device, and including a member extending through said frame plate and accessible above the latter.

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name at Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, this 18th day of September, 1919.

' EDWARD A. ESCHINGER. Witnesses:

W. ARTHUR SELLMAN,

H. A. Baum. 

